The Strengh Behind Masks
by crazylelenumber1
Summary: Uzamaki Naruto has returned to the village after having been thought dead for several years. What was he doing away? Who taught him ninjusu? What happened to the loudness he used to posses? How will he handle a hostile village after so many years away?
1. Prologue

Hello! This is an AU fic based off of the cannon. This is just the prologue so no other characters than Naruto.

Disclaimer- While I wish it was false I do not own Naruto.

***Warning!***- This is a Mature story so if you can't handle it don't read. This chapter is particularly bad. Don't read about people getting abused? Leave. Also homophobes should also be aware NaruSasu is my favorite pairing. Though I might not decide to put any romance in.

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Prologue

Naruto at four years old walked through the village he was walking home from day care. His guardian never walked the few blocks there and back with him. He only thing he ever did was keep his refrigerator full. Naruto didn't really mind that though. He noticed a few glares being sent his way. But ignored it he thought that everyone had to take the glaring.

He was walking past a dark side alley when someone grabbed him and dragged him roughly back his feet scraping on the ground. He tried to scream for help but his mouth was covered by a burly hand. Naruto stopped struggling after a moment. He knew what was going to happen next.

Naruto started to whimper as the guy turned him around.

"Hello there Demon." A guy standing behind the guy holding him said.

Naruto whimpered again and tried to look away from what he could see three average sized men.

"Do you know what you did to my wife and son?" The guy that first talked to him asked cruelly. His voice was course and bitter.

Naruto shook his head violently in the hold he was in tears sliding down his little cheeks.

"You killed them. You ate my wife and gutted my son." He stated. "I hate you. You killed my family!"

Naruto continued to shake his head silent tears running down his face. The guy holding him released him and the guy that was speaking punched him in the face. Naruto fell over to the side and clutched his cheek. He curled himself up there. Once the guys saw that he wasn't going to get back up they started to kick his small body. They kicked his back and stomach harshly making Naruto get scrapes all over his body from the concrete.

Eventually the men stopped. Naruto was bleeding all over and bruises were forming all over his body. He thought it might be over until one of the men bent over and pinned his arms above his head. One of the others picked up his legs and they swung him between the two of them for a minute before launching Naruto at a nearby wall. He cried out on impact. Naruto blacked out for a minute.

When he came to he was pressed agaist the wall by one of the men's legs. His croch was currently resting against Naruto's face. Naruto whimpered and tried to pull his head away from the man's sternum.

"I see your awake now you shit. It's time the two of us got something out of this as well." He growled thrusting his hips into Naruto's face. Then he roughly undid his pants. He pulled out his penis and held it near Naruto's mouth.

"Open up shit." He cackled as he once again thrust his hips into Naruto's face.

Naruto tried to push himself more into the wall but found he couldn't. He man above him then took his chin and squeezed his cheeks making Naruto open his mouth. The ham rammed his penis into Naruto's mouth brutally. Naruto choked and started to cry again. The man continued to thrust into Naruto's mouth until he finally released into his mouth. The man let Naruto go and he fell to the ground gasping and coughing. Cum splattered onto the concrete near where Naruto lay as he spit it up.

The last man that had not spoken to Naruto yet crouched down and pinned his hands above his head sitting on his legs. He then proceeded to pull down his pants. Naruto closed his eyes tight and turned his face away. The man above him kept hold of his arms and made him pull his legs up. He undid his own belt and shoved himself into Naruto's most private place. Naruto started to sob and cry out in pain at the cruel thrusting of the man above him. Naruto's own blood became lubricant as he bleed and screamed in pain.

The man finished shoving himself fully into Naruto before emptying. Naruto lay there as the men left him battered and broken. He laid on the concrete sobbing before finally falling asleep his small body exhausted.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

When Naruto woke again he was not on the street. He gazed up at the tree tops for a moment before pulling his hands up to rub his eyes. He found when he did he had bandages scattered about his body. Naruto was laying on a small pad and had a warm but warn blanket over him. He let his arms fall back to his side before sitting up and looking around at the campsite.

It was in the woods. There was a small place where a fire had been until recently. Naruto looked around for a moment before he noticed a man sitting across from him. He was pretty young in his late twenties. He had light brown hair that fell around his angular face. His face was peaceful as he was asleep and his breath was quiet. He was kind of a pale guy but had been tanned from the sun. Naruto noticed he was wearing loose fitting clothes but not so much that they would get in the way. His pants were black and his shirt evergreen.

Naruto tried to get up but fell. This woke the young man across from him.

"Oh, I must have fallen asleep that was careless. I see you've woken up how are you doing?" He asked. His voice was soft and kind. Now that he was awake Naruto could also see that his eyes were a very dark brown.

Naruto stared at him for a moment before saying. "I'm ok."

The man smiled. "That's good to hear."

Naruto sat back for a moment before asking, "Onii-san? Why did you help me?"

The man studied Naruto's small cubby face his wide blue eyes asking him so innocently. "I wanted to help you. Why wouldn't I?"

Naruto looked uncomfortable for a minute before he tentatively said, "No one likes me. Some people call me a demon. No one plays with me. They all look at me bad."

The man cocked an eyebrow. "Well I won't do that to you. My name's Hitoshi. What's your name?"

"My name's Uzamaki Naruto! I'm four years old!" The boy said happily.

"Well it's nice to meet you Naruto." Hitoshi said smiling at the boy.

"It's nice to meet you too!" Naruto chirped.


	2. I'm Back

I'm Back

12 year old Naruto walked down the path towards where he knew Konohagakure was. According to the map he should be able to see the gates pretty soon. Naruto wondered what Oji-san would think of him when he just turned up like this. It wouldn't have been too weird if they thought he was just dead especially if they found a lot of his blood. Naruto shrugged and decided he didn't care. The only reason he was even back at this stupid village was because of that annoying promise he made to Hitoshi.

He saddened at that thought he didn't want to think about Hitoshi now. No he had to focus on the present. Naruto soon spotted the gates and decided to take cover in the tree line. He easily hopped from one tree branch to the next. A few minutes walking before the gate he jumped down from the tree he was on and started to walk again.

Five minutes later he arrived at the gates glad to see they were open. It would have been troublesome if they weren't. Naruto walked up to the first guard desk and poked the ninja who was asleep there.

"Wha? I'm not sleeping!" the man yelled indignantly.

Naruto chuckled a little at that.

"Who are you?" He asked suspiciously. "No one your age is supposed to be back today."

"Uzamaki Naruto. Could I speak to hokage-sama today?" Naruto said a little amusement in his voice.

The man seamed unimpressed and said, "Uzamaki Naruto died years ago. He was quite young. Why are you saying you're him anyway that doesn't even make any sense."

Naruto laughed then responded, "Uzamaki Naruto didn't die you never found a body. I am Uzamaki Naruto. Who would know about him other than someone from Konohagakure anyways?"

The man seamed to consider this for a moment before saying, "How do I know you're not a spy?"

Suddenly as if remembering something Naruto started to root through his pack and finally pulled out a very small shirt. "I was wondering why he had me keep this." Naruto held out the shirt for him to see. "See this is the shirt I wore when I was little look at the symbol. Who else would have this?"

"I suppose I can take you to see him but if you try anything I'm gonna have to put a kunai through you." He conceded it was really above his head at this point.

Naruto nodded at him. "Lead the way."

The man led him to the hokage tower without anything happening. Naruto was quiet he hadn't said anything else. He just fallowed he was actually a little tired now that he thought about it. He'd been traveling for quite some time.

They soon stood outside the tower. 'Wow big red and extremely noticeable.' Naruto thought looking up at it for a second an amused smile played on his lips for a minute. Naruto and the man he was fallowing walked in and he talked to someone behind the desk for a while before nodding. They waited for a little while before they were directed upstairs.

Naruto stepped through a door flanked by two masked ninja and was greeted with the sight of the hokage sitting behind his desk doing some work. He finished something up before looking up to greet them. Sarutobi dropped the pen he was holding and his eyes widened.

"Hey, Oji-san. How've you been?" Naruto said raising a hand and waving a little at the hokage.

Sarutobi almost sputtered a little before answering. "I've been alright. But what about you? We thought you were dead."

"Yeah that's what this guy said." Naruto said jerking his thumb towards the ninja behind him. Naruto smiled and said, "I've been good."

Sarutobi sighed and rubbed his face. "That's good to hear. Though I really must ask; where have you been?"

Naruto scratched his cheek for a little bit before saying, "I'll tell you but can I sit down? Oh and you may want to send him out of the room." He said jerking his thumb once again at the ninja who had brought him to the tower.

Sarutobi nodded. "You're dismissed Hagane."

Naruto sat down and waited for the hokage to speak again. "Naruto I really thought you were dead. Who did you go with you were only four when you disappeared."

"I was with a man by the name of Hitoshi. He and I traveled to pretty much every country that you can walk to. Hitoshi-sensei took care of me when I was young and taught me everything that I needed to learn." Naruto said speaking in a low tone.

Sarutobi nodded. "Naruto why did you go with him?" He asked confused as to why Naruto would leave everything he knew with a stranger.

Naruto looked to the ground. Then spook in a quite voice, "He helped me when I was hurt."

Sarutobi's eyebrows came together and he rubbed his face again. "Naruto I'm sorry to ask this but how do I know that your really who you say you are?"

Naruto lifted his eyes then stood up. He pulled up the black shirt he was wearing and concentrated his chakra on his stomach.

Sarutobi nodded at the tattoo that seamed to just appear on his skin when he did this but frowned slightly when he noticed that the five elements seal was gone.

"Naruto who removed the five elements seal from you?" He asked there were very few people that could do that.

"My sensei looked up how to do it because it was tampering with my chakra control." Naruto explained.

Sarutobi nodded then asked, "He trained you as a ninja then?"

Naruto nodded, "He trained me to be a shinobi. I would like to continue with my training. I would like to become a full fledged ninja of the Land of Fire."

Sarutobi nodded again, he expected as much. "I would like to meet your teacher."

Naruto stayed quiet for a while before saying, "I'm sorry that will be impossible. My teacher died. The reason I'm here now is because I promised him I would come here if he died. Also I don't have any other alliances with other countries."

Sarutobi was actually a little pleased. If Naruto didn't have any alliances with other countries he could probably get him into the ninja academy and a team as soon as he passed the test. "Well Naruto I'll see what I can do. I'll put you up at a hotel for the night and we'll get you an apartment as soon as we can."

Naruto nodded happy that he would have a home again. "Oji-san, do I have access to the Konohagakure library?"

Sarutobi nodded. "Though right now you are only a civilian so you won't have very much access."

Naruto smiled. "No that's fine. Thanks Oji-san."

Sarutobi smiled at the boy.

Then Naruto started his story from the beginning telling Sarutobi almost everything that happened to him while with Hitoshi omitting a few things for privacy sake.

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Welcome to the wondrous corner of translations!

Oji-san – old man

Obba-san – old woman

Onii-san – polite way to refer to young men that are older than you and older brothers (yeah little weird)

Onee-san – polite way to refer to young women that are older than you and older sisters

San – a polite ending that basically means Mr. or Miss.

Chan – ending for young kids or people you know very well

Kun – relatively polite ending mostly for boys; girls their own age may call them this as well as teachers or other boys if they aren't very good friends.

Ok well that was a little hard to explain but I'm going to be using these in the story so I thought I should let you know what they are. If I add another Japanese word I'll put it down here too. Though just so you know I have decided against using Japanese swear words because they are just too complicated.


	3. The Academy

The Academy

Two weeks since Naruto first talked to Sarutobi he woke up in his new apartment. It was sparsely furnished, having a futon in one room while the other had a small table with a chair and a couch. Naruto stretched and yawned then got up. He went about his new daily routine and ate breakfast. Then picked up a bag he got ready the night before and left for his first day of the ninja academy.

As he walked in he noticed that most of the students were already in their classrooms just talking to each other waiting for class to start. Naruto grabbed his school information out of his bag and easily found the room he was supposed to be in for his classes. He sat down in the back of the class next to two guys one of them was munching on a bag of chips and the other one had his head down on the desk and looked like he was going to fall asleep any minute. Naruto settled into his seat he only had to wait a few minutes until the teacher came in.

"Alright class, settle down." He said loudly.

Naruto let his eyes wander the room for a second before he heard the teacher say, "Ok before we begin today we have a new student. Why doesn't he stand up and introduce himself to the class?"

Naruto sighed and stood up in the back making everyone turn to look at him. "Hey, my name's Uzamaki Naruto it's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too Naruto-kun. I'm Iruka and I'll be your sensei for your time at the academy." Iruka said smiling at him.

Naruto sat back down as Iruka spoke and nodded at the man. He heard the whispers of several students. He also felt several fleeting glances mixed in with more powerful glares.

"What's he doing here?"

"We're going to be taking the graduation test in only two months."

"Where did he come from?"

"Why do you think he's in this class?"

Naruto sighed again and got out a note book planning on taking notes. He looked to the front of the room where Iruka stood explaining some Konohagakure and Fire Country history. Naruto soon found himself bored with the lesson. Hitoshi had already explained this to him enough times for it to be ingrained in his mind.

Naruto put his head in his hand and started to stare outside. It was a beautiful day outside. Only a few puffy white clouds stood out against the bright blue sky. Naruto wished he were outside. He understood that knowing about politics and policies was important to be a ninja but the physical aspects were more important sometimes. Like when you were about to get rammed through with a kunai.

A while later the others started to leave the classroom heading for the academy training grounds outside. Naruto got up and fallowed them out. A few boys were paling around a little while the girls where chatting. They soon got outside and had to go to their assignments.

Iruka stood off to the side watching the groups of students. He waved Naruto over. "Well, Naruto-kun we usually don't have new students this late in the system. You can go join that group just try to keep up ok?"

Naruto practically snorted at the keeping up comment but didn't. He headed towards the group Iruka pointed out. They were working on throwing shuriken. Most were doing pretty well getting it near the center of the target. Naruto watched for a few minutes before picking up a few for him self and trying to get a feel for the new knives. They weighed a little less than the ones he had learned with.

Naruto threw one to test out how they would feel in the air. He found he didn't have to throw them as hard. He tossed a few at the target the first one hit dead center the other two impacted the first and fell to the ground near the target. He went through all his basic tosses and was starting on a few of the more advanced ones when he heard a loud whistle.

Naruto saw the other students move forward to pick up the shuriken and went forward to pick all of his off the ground. The one that was imbedded in the target he had to wrench free. He put them back where he found them; then fallowed the rest of his group to the next station.

It was just running. So for the next half hour Naruto ran albeit a little halfheartedly around the small track. The whistle blew again and they went to the next station. Naruto wasn't even breathing hard while his classmates were puffing a little.

The next station they did a bunch of calisthenics starting with basic stretches. Naruto easily completed the ones assigned and started from the beginning again once he had finished. The whistle blew again.

The next station was being directed by Iruka and everyone was sparring. 'Oh fuck. Why my first day? I was trying to stay off the radar.'

"Naruto-kun why don't you spar with Haruka-kun?" He pointed to another boy with brown hair and brown eyes. Haruka looked a little skinny to Naruto.

Haruka and Naruto bowed to each other then he let Haruka run at him. Haruka aimed a punch at his face. At the last second Naruto dodged making Haruka stumble and almost fall over. Naruto appeared behind him and gave him a little push making him fall to the ground. Naruto and Haruka continued sparring Naruto just dodging and blocking until their half hour was up.

They went back inside after that and Iruka announced it was time for lunch. Most of the kids got up to visit their friends if they weren't sitting with them. Naruto pulled out a cloth bag and took out an apple. He bit into the apple and pulled out a book from his bag. It was a tactics manual from the Konohagakure library. The second day Naruto was in Konohagakure he went to the library and got a card there.

It was good that he had too. Sarutobi hadn't been able to get him into the academy for several days. Then after that they had to determine which class he should go in and such. It had taken a while. Naruto was a little bored with just staying at his apartment.

Very soon the lunch break was over and Naruto put away his book to try and pay attention to what Iruka was saying. He was explaining something about how chakra could be implemented in many different ways or something. Naruto wondered why he had to do that. Of course chakra could be implemented in many different ways if you could use it correctly. These guys were in their last year at the academy shouldn't they know this already?

Naruto decided to write down everything he knew on the subject. Eventually he finished and looked back up to the front to see that Iruka hadn't got very far in his explanation. Naruto propped his head up on his hand and let his eyes glaze over while he waited for class to finally end. Soon enough it did and Naruto packed up his things preparing to leave the classroom. He was about to go when he heard Iruka call out to him.

"Naruto-kun can you stay for a second?" He asked over his shoulder, loudly so as to be heard.

"Sure Iruka-sensei. What do you need?" Naruto answered peeling away form the group going out the door.

Iruka motioned for him to come over. Naruto did walking up to stand in front of the teacher. "I just wanted to know how you thought your first day went." Iruka explained.

"I think it went fine Iruka-sensei." Naruto said slightly confused as to why he was asking.

Iruka contemplated for a second before saying, "What I mean is and sorry to be so blunt but do you think that this class is a good fit for you or do you think that the things we're learning about are above your comprehension?"

Naruto nearly laughed. When he responded a little amusement colored his voice. "I think that I'll be just fine Iruka-sensei. You don't have to worry about me."

"What's so funny?" Iruka asked a little startled at the amusement in Naruto's tone.

Naruto waved a hand in front of his face. "Nothing Iruka-sensei. Anyways I'll see you tomorrow."

"Ok, bye Naruto-kun." Iruka said to Naruto's retreating back.

Naruto went back to his apartment and put his stuff down taking out the homework Iruka assigned. He easily completed it then put it back into his bag. Naruto got changed repeating the process of arming himself. Then made his breakfast for the next day. He put it in the refrigerator and ate a little something before going out for a run.

Naruto ran through the village maintaining a steady speed. After about two hours he decided he had enough of that. Naruto headed over to the academy training grounds, he wanted to head over to a real training ground but only qualified ninja were allowed to practice their. For good reason it was annoying to have inexperienced kids underfoot all the time. 'I'll just have to deal with it for a little while.' Naruto thought to himself.

When he got to the training ground he was a little surprised to see so many academy students diligently working on their skills. Though when he really thought about it he really shouldn't have if they were serious about wanting to be ninja they should be out there everyday practicing. Naruto went over to a free target a little bit away from the other kids.

Naruto stood back and closed his eyes starting to throw his shuriken and kunai at the target. He then started a tumbling pattern. He somersaulted and sprang off his hands releasing kunai and shuriken when in the air. After about only twenty minutes Naruto ran out of weapons and came to a stop. He opened his eyes to see where his results. All of the weapons had made it into the target and almost all were very close to the center. A few littered the ground were they had bounced off of others that had landed on the target.

Naruto noticed quite a few of the other kids were staring at him but paid them no mind. He went up to the target and started to yank all of his shuriken out of the target and replace them in his weapons holder and elsewhere on his body. Then yanked all the kunai out and did the same.

Naruto then took out a scroll summoning a wakizashi(1) easily heading into the forest near the Academy. He no longer wanted the other students to be aware of what he was doing. Naruto didn't trust them. He didn't know who they were or if they were going to hurt him. Naruto would rather they not know how much he knew for his own good.

Naruto walked through the forest until he came upon a nice clearing. He went through his kata(2) with his wakizashi. Flowing through all of the movements Naruto flew through that part of his practice. He sent the wakizashi back into the scroll putting it back into his pocket.

Then Naruto started to do his chakra control technique. He walked up and down a tree several times. Then walked on his hands up the tree using his abdominal muscles to keep his body in place. Naruto had wanted to do some water walking but didn't know where he could do that. So he settled on doing the next thing on his list tumbling through trees. He did that for about an hour but noticed it was really dark outside.

He walked out of the forest and back into the academy training grounds. A few of the other students had left out some of the school's weapons so Naruto put them back into the storage closet easily finding where they should go. Naruto walked home from the school and got into his apartment. He made himself something to eat then fell onto his bed and slept.

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A/N- The next chapter is going to be the first genin test! I'm so not writing all the time Naruto is at the academy, way too boring. It's just him getting bored out of his mind at school and training too much 'k.

A wakizashi is a companion sword to the katana. It's shorter so more suitable for close combat than a katana. I think it's a better sword for Naruto and shinobi in general because it's for close combat. And if you didn't know to use a katana you have to be able to put cuts in the right place at the exact right time. Also katana can break easily so you can't go chopping at each others swords with them, it just wouldn't work… yeah.

Kata is just basically anything choreographed, though it mostly refers to martial arts. A kata is a form or if you've never taken any martial arts a set of moves you do put together kind of like a choreographed dance… but not really.

Little explanation as to why I don't put 's'es onto the Japanese words- they don't need it all Japanese words already mean either one or more than one they don't differentiate, so I don't put 's'es onto ninja or shinobi or anything because it doesn't make sense…


	4. The Genin Test

A/N- Hey everyone! Just to let you know I'm not talking about everything at the Academy. Just assume that he kinda kept the same schedule. Also assume that he meet Mizuki before today.

*****Warnings!*****

**-Violence**

**-Abuse**

**-Beatings**

**-Gore**

**-Possible Boy X Boy relationship!**

Don't say I didn't warn you, this is the second time ok?

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The Genin Test

*Time Skip to Genin test(the ones the Academy sensei give) or to two months later*

Naruto woke up the morning of the test elated. He was ready to be out there getting real missions. The academy was necessary in many aspects he realized but for him it was all a review. He wanted to be able to have access to more of the library and the other training ground. It was annoying not being able to do anything anymore.

He went through the motions of getting ready for school and set off. Naruto got there early and was going to sit and wait in the hall when he heard Mizuki one of his other sensei muttering to himself. Now normally this wouldn't really bother him but he heard the word 'kyuubi' and decided to perk his ears a bit.

"Of course… it… he'll never pass… first time… kyuubi brat… steal… tell him… pass…" Mizuki muttered in a daze.

Naruto frowned. Obviously Mizuki was talking about him thinking that he wouldn't pass the test. It also seemed that he wanted him to steal something telling him he would pass if he did. Naruto decided that he would run with it to see what he was up to. He didn't really have enough proof to go to anyone else about it.

So he did the written test completing the specific number of questions he needed to answer to pass the test. Naruto was pretty sure all his answers were correct but didn't complete the rest of the written test. It was a waste of his time if Mizuki thought he was smart enough to see through his plan.

Next all the students were called into the next room to do bunshin no jutsu. If they passed both the written exam and could do the basic ninjutsu well enough they would pass from the academy. Personally Naruto thought it was ridiculous to do this because near none of the graduates would be ready to do real combat let alone fight other shinobi.

Naruto was called into the next room to do bunshin no jutsu. Iruka nodded and Naruto glanced at Mizuki who was smiling at him. Then put his hands into the seal for bunshin no jutsu. Naruto built up his chakra and formed a clone making it have the appearance of a sickly person. It poofed into existence and fell to the ground beside the original Naruto.

Iruka looked a little disappointed and said, "I'm sorry Naruto-kun you fail this part of the test. I thought that you said I didn't have to worry about you."

Naruto looked down playing up his failure for Mizuki.

"Iruka don't you think that's a little harsh? I mean isn't he proficient in all his other skills?" Mizuki asked sticky sweet concern dripping off his words.

Iruka sighed and said, "Ok Naruto-kun you can go."

Naruto walked out of the room head down slouching. The things Mizuki said only reinforced Naruto's suspicions though. He would have never said that unless he was trying to be nicer than Iruka and gain his trust more. After the test Naruto pretended to sulk more, sitting on a lone swing under a tree.

He heard a few women who had come to see their kids' graduate saying, "Did you hear that he was back?"

"Yeah, I was happier thinking he was dead."

"Were do you think he was?"

"I don't know, but I'm glad he didn't pass."

"Yeah, me too."

Naruto scuffed his foot really not wanting to hear things like that about himself. Especially when he was in earshot really were these two women stupid. Soon enough he got to stop sulking and started to walk home.

As he was walking away Mizuki called out to him, "Naruto-kun!"

Naruto turned around all suspicions confirmed. "Mizuki-sensei."

"Why don't we go have a talk Naruto-kun?" he asked sticky sweet kindness lacing his voice.

Naruto nodded at him and followed him to a spot on a roof. They sat down and Mizuki kicked off the conversation saying, "I'm sorry Iruka was so harsh earlier."

Naruto looked away. "Why did he pick on me like that?"

"I think he sees himself in you. He grew up without parents too had to do everything himself. He just wants you to get strong the right way." Mizuki almost mused.

"I still wish I passed though." Naruto said fake sadness seeping into his words.

"In that case, I'll tell you a little secret. If you go into the Hokage's house there are a lot of scrolls, there is one called the scroll of the forbidden seal if you take it and learn something from it you'll pass the test." Mizuki explained then went into more detail telling him were to meet him to 'retake the test.'

Naruto went into the hokage's house inconspicuously not running into anyone. He left a note though saying

'Hey oji-san!

I'm borrowing the forbidden seals scroll for a little. If you want it back meet me in the forest in the clearing with all the big trees. Sorry that wasn't very helpful it's to the east of the Academy. I don't think very many people know about it.

Ja!

~Uzamaki Naruto

P.S. Please don't kill me!'

He went to the meeting place and started to read the first technique. It wasn't all that dangerous it just used a lot of chakra and he supposed it could really hurt a lot of people if implemented the right way. Naruto feeling Mizuki's chakra made a show of doing the hand seals and building up quite a bit of chakra before pretending to fail miserably at it.

Soon enough Mizuki's chakra left the area heading towards the village. Naruto looked at the scroll again and practiced kage bunshin no jutsu several times before getting it correct. He then started to look through the rest of the scroll. He was surprised when he found several jutsu relating to sealing of biju. Naruto wanted to read more about it but thought that Mizuki was probably on his way back already. So Naruto started to practice the kage bunshin no jutsu again. At the same time put up a few easily made traps around the area.

Naruto soon found not Mizuki's chakra coming towards him but Iruka's. Naruto found that he very badly wanted to suppress his own chakra but felt that he probably shouldn't because a kid just out of the academy shouldn't be able to do that. He waited for Iruka to get there trying to keep track of Mizuki's chakra as well but found that he was too far away.

Iruka got there quickly. When he found him Naruto slumped against a tree tired from all his training and running around.

"I found you…" Iruka said tersely. He had gotten through the traps easily. "Why the hell are there traps around here? And why did you take the forbidden scroll?"

"Mizuki told me to go into hokage tower and steal it. He said that if I mastered one of the things in the scroll he would re-test me." Naruto said quickly still trying to feel Mizuki's chakra.

Iruka looked horrified. Just then Naruto felt Mizuki's chakra coming right at them. He jumped out of the way of a barrage of kunai right in time Iruka following him. Mizuki landed on the branch of a nearby tree saying,

"Nice job finding the idiot, Iruka."

Iruka looked like it all finally dawned on him. "Naruto make sure he doesn't get the scroll."

"Of course Iruka-sensei." Naruto said ready to take off in the other direction.

Iruka taking off to take Mizuki from behind. Mizuki easily dodged and counterattacked sending Iruka flying. Naruto couldn't decide to help Iruka or to run away from them both and possibly get help. He stayed in the same place for a little bit just staring at Mizuki and Iruka's fight. They were both good though Naruto saw several missed opportunities on both their parts. When Naruto thought Iruka could handle it he was about to go Mizuki yelled at him.

"Wait Naruto!" Mizuki called. "I'll tell you the truth to as to why everyone hates you if you stay."

"No don't!" Iruka yelled as Naruto looked over his shoulder at Mizuki.

Naruto laughed that didn't tempt him in the least, "I'm not an idiot I already know why people don't like me."

"Well did you know that Iruka's parents were killed by the beast?" Mizuki asked cruelly dodging Iruka's next attack.

Naruto shook his head no and said as he took off, "It doesn't matter because Iruka knows that Naruto is Naruto and Kyuubi is Kyuubi."

Naruto ran through the forest fast. He could hear the sounds of the fight behind him steadily coming closer. It seemed Iruka might have needed more help then Naruto had thought. He tried his new jusu and sent ten clones to where Iruka and Mizuki were fighting behind him. Naruto found out when his first one dispelled that he would gain all the memories from that clone and tucked that information away for later.

With the help of Naruto's clones Iruka and Naruto were easily able to detain Mizuki. The clones boxing him in and Iruka knocking him out with a blow to the neck. When the real Naruto felt the chakra stop moving he dispelled the jutsu and went back to Iruka.

"Oh hey Naruto-kun I was wondering where the real you was. I thought that the real you was probably mixed in with the clones, guess I was wrong." Iruka said looking at Naruto in a little different light after what they just went through.

Naruto just nodded and asked, "Well we better go straighten this out now huh?"

They took Mizuki back with them where he was handed off to the interrogation specialists. Iruka first explained to the hokage what happened. Naruto then told the Sarutobi about his suspicions about Mizuki but explained that he didn't have any evidence. He ultimately didn't think anyone would take him seriously.

"Naruto you shouldn't have done that it was dangerous. You should have just let someone know right away." Sarutobi gently reprimanded him.

Naruto looked away. "I didn't know who to talk to or if anyone would believe what I had to say."

Sarutobi got a little bit of a wayward look. "Well you can always tell your jounin-sensei after this."

Naruto a little confused blurted, "But I didn't pass the exam!"

The hokage chuckled a little before saying, "Well from this I'm sure we can all see that you should become a shinobi. Isn't that right Iruka?" he spoke up at the end.

Naruto laughed when he heard Iruka stumble a little from his place eavesdropping outside the door.

"Well I'm gonna go now oji-san. I've gotta be rested for tomorrow then, right?" Naruto said truly smiling.

"Ok bye Naruto."

Naruto walked out the door and was going to walk home when he came across Iruka sitting by the door.

"Hey Naruto-kun! I was wondering if you would like some ramen after all that."

Naruto smiled at his now ex-school teacher. "That would be great Iruka-sensei."


	5. Meeting Sensei

Meeting Sensei

Naruto sat down in the back of the room to wait for the meeting of the new genin to come to order. He propped his legs on the table and started to read a book he had brought with him because he knew he would be waiting for someone to get everything together. Naruto glanced around at the other kids in the room thinking about how there was no way that all of them had the skill to become real shinobi. Soon enough Iruka-sensei came into the room and started to explain what they were doing.

"Starting today, all of you are real shinobi. But you are still genin. The hard journey that lies ahead has just started. Now you will soon get missions to help the village. So today we will create the three man teams and each team will have a jounin sensei. You will follow your sensei's instructions in order to successfully complete your missions." Iruka explained to his ex-students.

Naruto had expected them to do this. Four man teams made a lot of sense and having one with superior rank made the chain of command a lot simpler. 'I wonder who my new comrades will be.' He thought to himself. He knew he hadn't done well on the test. He did that on purpose it didn't really matter to him he had passed. Plus Mizuki was now probably giving up all his secrets up to the interrogators. Much better than being the best in the class at some test.

Naruto waited for his name to be called quietly his book open glancing at it every once in a while. He fidgeted in his seat he really didn't like to sit still long. Even when he normally read he would go out walking at the same time just to have something to do.

"Ok next is Team 7, Haruno Sakura, Uzamaki Naruto, and Uchiha Sasuke." Iruka announced.

The girl Naruto assumed was Haruno Sakura jumped up and yelled "Oh, yeah." At the top of her lungs. Naruto sighed at this and vaguely wondered who Uchiha was he hadn't had to interact with either at the academy.

After Iruka finished up his list he announced that they would get to meet their new sensei after a lunch break. Naruto stood up and left the room reading his book. He took an onigiri and started to eat it as he walked away from the classroom. He hopped up onto the roof when he got outside and pulled out another onigiri as he read his book. Soon he was back in the classroom with Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke alone because their new sensei was late.

'Well I suppose I should introduce myself.' Naruto thought after a while of just sitting there reading his book. "Hey you guys you probably don't know me so my name's Uzamaki Naruto. It's nice to meet you both." He said in a regular tone looking at them both from the desk he sat at.

Sakura spoke up first. "Hi I'm Haruno Sakura."

Naruto gave her a smile and a nod.

"Uchiha Sasuke." Sasuke said staring intently at his desk hands folded in front of his face.

Naruto gave him a nod as well. Then went back to his book. A half hour later the jounin finally showed up.

Sakura yelled, "Your late!" at him just as Naruto said it in a normal voice.

"Hmm… How can I say this? My first impression is… I don't like you guys." He said calmly.

They moved to the roof and the jounin said, "Well lets start with introducing ourselves."

"What do you want to know?" Asked Sakura.

The jounin shrugged. "How about your likes, dislikes, and dreams for the future, things like that."

"It's not very polite to not introduce yourself first." Naruto said from his place sitting cross legged on the ground.

"Yeah," admitted Sakura, "You look kinda suspicious."

"Oh… Me?" He asked. Lazily he answered, "Well, my name is Hatake Kakashi… I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislikes. Dreams for the future… Hmm and I have lots of hobbies…"

Sakura glanced over at Sasuke and Naruto and said more than asked, "So he told us his name?"

"Ok now it's your turn, let's start on the right."

Naruto nodded. "My name's Uzamaki Naruto. I guess if I had to pick something I would say I like ramen. I don't really dislike that much… Dreams? I don't have many and when I do mostly I forget them the next morning. Hobbies well I like um training and playing games." Naruto said smiling.

"Next," Kakashi said nodding to Sasuke.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are lot's of things I dislike and I don't really like anything and… I can't really call it a dream… But I have an ambition. The resurrection of my clan and… to kill a certain man."

Naruto glanced over at him. He didn't meet his eyes but Naruto could tell he was thinking of 'a certain man' now. Kakashi frowned a little and Sakura had her mouth open a little.

"And lastly the girl."

"My name is Haruno Sakura. The thing I like is…" She trailed off as she looked at Sasuke. "Well the person I like is… and uhm my dream for the future…" She glanced over to Sasuke. "Uhm..? Oh yeah!" She squealed. "What I dislike is creeps. My hobby is."

Naruto glanced over at her for a second and thought 'Great just great.'

"Ok that's good for the introductions. Tomorrow we'll start our duties as shinobi. First we are going to do something with just the four of us." Kakashi explained. "Survival training."

Sakura looked confused. "Why is our first duty training? Didn't we learn enough at the academy?"

"This isn't normal training," Kakashi responded. "Your opponent will be me." He started to giggle a little.

"Sensei what's so funny?" Sakura asked.

"Uhm… hehe Well… hehehe It's just that when I tell you this you guys are totally going to freak out." He said through his laughter.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Why?"

Kakashi's face became dead serious as he said, "Of the twenty seven graduates, only nine will be chosen to become genin. The rest will be sent back to the academy. This training is a very difficult exam with a failure rate of over sixty six percent."

Naruto felt relief at this statement. He knew that most of the graduates of the ninja academy were not ready to become ninja. Though Sasuke's face darkened and Sakura looked like she was about to throw up.

"Hahahaha!" Kakashi laughed at them but stopped abruptly at the look on Naruto's face. "Wait Naruto why aren't you more upset?"

Naruto sighed before deciding to respond. "Most of the academy graduates aren't ready to be real ninja. I'm happy that they won't die because of their and their sensei's incompetence."

Kakashi cocked his head. "You think that coming out of the academy doesn't really qualify you to be a full fledged ninja?"

Naruto glanced at the other two kids before saying, "This really isn't the time to get into what I think about the academy. Besides I'm far from an expert on education."

Kakashi nodded and decided to leave it alone before launching into what he wanted from them the next day. "Tomorrow you have to show your real skills on the training ground. Bring all the shinobi tools you have. Oh, and skip breakfast you'll throw up. The details are on this paper and don't be late tomorrow."

"Might throw up? It's going to be that tough?" Sakura squawked.

They all took a handout from Kakashi and started to read.

* * *

A/N- Woot two chapters in one day! Though I already had this one written… Any case I'm looking for a **beta** for this story so if anyone reading is interested in taking that job send me a PM. I would appreciate it a lot!


	6. Bells?

Bells?

The next day Naruto woke up with enough time to get ready before the meeting. He got up and got dressed. Naruto put on a plain black shirt and dark blue pants both were made of cotton and while tight enough not to get caught on anything were loose enough to move in. He made sure he had enough weapons in his weapons pouch, then strapped his wakizashi to his back. Naruto grabbed his bag strapping it securely around his torso. He ate breakfast not caring that Kakashi had warned him not to. Having a good breakfast was important plus Naruto had a lurking suspicion that Kakashi was going to be late.

Naruto walked to the meeting place to see that Sasuke was already there. He had a large pack on his back and was wearing the same outfit a dark blue shirt and white shorts. Naruto wondered how he always kept them so clean.

"Ohayo Uchiha-kun." Naruto said rather loudly waving at him from several feet away.

Sasuke nodded at him. Naruto unstrapped his bag then sat down next to it pulling out a book as they waited for Kakashi and Sakura to get there. Sakura soon got there and tried to flirt a little with Sasuke much to Naruto's amusement. After a while Sakura and Sasuke got bored of waiting.

"When do you think he'll get here?" Sakura asked not quite whining.

Naruto looked up from his book. "You mean Kakashi-sensei?"

"Who else would I mean?" Sakura asked confused.

"Oh, I thought you might have meant someone else since he has been standing over there," Naruto pointed towards some trees, "for quite a while now. I didn't want to bother him though."

"Why not?" Sasuke practically growled. He was sick of waiting for him.

"I thought it would be rude." Naruto shrugged not really sure what else to say. He went back to his book then sure that Kakashi would probably be there soon.

A few minutes later he felt Kakashi's chakra move towards them and put away his book. He stood up and stretched questioning his new teammates odd looks. Kakashi walked up to them waving and saying,

"Hey guys, good morning!"

"You're late!" yelled Sakura accusingly pointing a finger at him.

"Oh, I just stopped to help a cat stuck in a tree." Kakashi explained. He took a clock out of his bag and set it for noon. "There it's set for noon."

Kakashi then took out two small bells on small strings holding them up for them to see. "Here are two bells. Your task is to get them from me before the time is up. Those who don't have a bell by noon… get no lunch. I'll not only tie you to one of those stumps," he said pointing to three stumps at the side of the grounds, "but I'll also eat right in front of you."

'So that's why he told us not to eat breakfast.' Naruto thought to himself. Then heard the distinct sound of two stomachs growling in harmony.

"You only have to get one bell," Kakashi went on, "You only have to get one bell. There are only two, so one of you will definitely be tied to the stump and … the person who doesn't take a bell fails. So at least one of you will be sent back to the academy. If you want you can use shuriken and kunai. You won't succeed unless you come at me intending to kill."

"But you'll be in danger!" Sakura exclaimed.

Naruto snorted. "No he won't."

Sakura looked confused. "W-what do you mean?"

"If he couldn't dodge what a couple of academy graduates can dish out he would have died already." Naruto stated bored.

Kakashi nodded, "He's right if I couldn't dodge you guys I would have died a thousand times over already. Ok start when I say. Ready? Begin!"

They all took off in different directions. Kakashi stood in the center of the field while the others were hidden in the trees. Naruto masked his chakra and rationalized what Kakashi had said for a minute. 'Ok so he wants us to get the bells. He uses this test on all of the graduate teams. There is no way that one of them could take on a jonin. So the answer is to work as a group. Though he said that one of us would go back to the academy. I wonder what the other two will do.' Naruto glanced over to where they were hiding in the trees. He wondered if they actually thought that Kakashi didn't know where they were.

Kakashi in the center took out a book and started to read it while waiting for them. This amused Naruto but he thought it probably was a good way to get them out there. He watched as Sasuke took a shot trying to get Kakashi in the back. For a second it looked like it worked. Sakura cried out as she saw the kunai and shuriken burry themselves into Kakashi's skin. But it was just a kawarimi no jutsu.

He felt Sasuke try to follow Kakashi but soon lost him in the trees. Naruto felt for Kakashi's chakra finding it in the woods a couple hundred yards from where he was. He felt Sakura get near him then a spurt of chakra from Kakashi.

"AHHHHH!" Naruto heard Sakura scream.

Naruto quickly but quietly made his way through the trees to where Sakura was passed out. He felt Sasuke's chakra nearby obviously looking for Kakashi. Naruto made a clone to check Sakura's pulse to make sure she was ok. Then the clone fixed her legs and arms so that she was lying on the ground normally. Kakashi appeared leaning against a nearby tree.

"I was wondering where you were you're really good at masking your chakra." Kakashi stated still reading his book.

"Yeah," Naruto answered shortly. "Well maybe you should continue looking." After saying that the Naruto clone poofed away. The real Naruto still hiding in the trees.

Kakashi stood there for a few seconds just reading his book before Sasuke came out of the foliage. Sasuke launched some shuriken at him making him back up into a trap. Which Kakashi dodged. Naruto looking on from the trees easily found an opening as they were fighting.

Naruto jumped out from the trees as fast as he could and grabbed the bells off of Kakashi as he was blocking two of Sasuke's attacks. Both Sasuke and Kakashi looked surprised as he did that but couldn't stop him while they were still grappling with each other. Naruto easily flipped away before either could get him. They split apart both cursing inwardly. Kakashi jumping away to hide elsewhere.

Naruto ran far enough away to where he was sure no one was following. Then Naruto walked back to where Sakura was. He checked her pulse again and left one of the bells in her weapons pouch.

Naruto felt Sasuke sanding a bit behind him so said, "She's alright."

Sasuke didn't respond but came out of the foliage. "I don't care about that. I just need one of the bells. Perhaps the one you took while I was fighting."

Naruto resented that a little but didn't say anything. He walked past Sasuke shoving his shoulder into his. "Who said I took one of the bells?"

Naruto slowly made his way towards the stumps where Kakashi had placed the clock timing them. They only had about twenty minutes left so Naruto sat atop one of the stumps and pulled out his book.

Kakashi was there in a few minutes after he figured out both bells where gone. He was a little surprised at Naruto's presence on the stump but didn't say anything. After the bell rang signaling the end of the exercise Sasuke and Sakura were prompt at getting back.

"Alright I guess that Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun pass my test." Kakashi addressed the three.

The Uchiha growled. "No I don't have a bell."

Kakashi was surprised. "I thought that you and Naruto-kun worked together."

"No we weren't working together."

"Well then Naruto-kun you have both bells right? Could I have them back?" He asked once again surprised.

"Sorry Kakashi-sensei. I don't have them anymore." Naruto said amused.

"Well then who has them?" Sakura asked from looking on.

Naruto laughed a little. "Uchiha-kun take a look in your left pocket and Sakura-san look in your weapons pouch."

Sasuke reached into his pocket. "What does-" he cut himself off eyes wide pulling out a bell.

After he did that Sakura hurriedly opened her weapons pouch also finding another bell in there as well. Naruto shrugged at the astonishment.

"I ate breakfast."

Kakashi chuckled. "Naruto-kun you pass. Sakura-kun and Sasuke-kun unfortunately you didn't pass. Naruto-kun you gave your teammates bells that they didn't earn. I'm going to have to tie you to the stump."

Naruto nodded understanding what he was trying to do. Kakashi tied him up to the stump and gave the other two the packaged meals he brought. "Don't give any to Naruto-kun now."

"I don't get it why didn't we pass?" Sakura asked Sasuke.

Naruto sighed. "That's why."

Sakura looked over to Naruto. "What?"

"Sakura-san you didn't pass because you were only worried about Uchiha-kun even though you could have helped me out when I was nearest to you."

Sasuke scoffed.

"Got something to say Uchiha you didn't pass as I recall. You didn't pass because you couldn't get a bell on your own and arrogantly thought that you could."

"Well then oh wise one why did you pass when Sakura and I were the ones with the bells?" Sasuke asked sarcastically.

"What did I do that both of you didn't?"

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"Just-" Naruto cut off as his stomach growled loudly. "This is why I tell people that it sucks to have a high metabolism."

Sasuke smirked at him and Sakura giggled a little.

"Think it over. What did I do that was different from you?"

Eventually it dawned on the two as they were eating. Sasuke stared at his food for a while before asking,

"Would you like the rest of this Naruto-kun?"

Sakura's eyes widened in understanding and said, "Oh you can have the rest of mine Naruto-kun I'm on a diet anyways."

Naruto chuckled at the two before Kakashi poofed in front of them. He narrowed his visible eye and glared hard at them before finally saying, "You guys pass!"

"But we still didn't get the bells!" yelled Sasuke.

"Yes but you helped your comrade, right?"

They all looked at each other for a moment before Kakashi said, "That ends training for today. You guys all pass! OK! Starting tomorrow team 7 will begin its duties!"

Thank yous and responses to anonyms reviews-

To Stargazer- Thank you for the reviews! To answer your questions I don't think that there is potential for ItaNaru in this story or DeiNaru what with them working for Akasuki and want to extract his biju and such… yeah. So sorry there may be NaruSasu though! Really unsure on that though…

Thank you to chaos nutter for the helpful review!

Thank you to the 12 people subscribed to this story! (Wow 0_o)

Thank you to the 9 people who favorited this story!

Thank you to the 2 people who read this story and put me on their author alert!

Thank you to the 1 person who read this and added me as favorite author!

Thank you to the over 1,000 people who have read at least one chapter of my story you guys make this worthwhile.


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